Warming trend

Up until late last week, my dog-ter Frankie had been living in a sweater due to the unseasonably cold weather we've had since Nov.  Well, now we're having unseasonably warm weather (Ahh, Texas...), so she's been downgraded in the evenings to this cute lil' shirt her uncies Ben and David got her late last summer.  It even has 3/4 sleeves, so it's like a long sleeve shirt to doggies!  So cute.  And what you can kinda make out here is that it's a red pitchfork that makes the stem of a "B" and the "B" has a tail w/ a point.  What you can't see here is that underneath that "logo", it says evillilbitch.

Love it.  lol

Statler Hilton memorabilia?

Last weekend I went poking around a few of our great antique (read: mostly mid-century modern, 70's eclectic) stores, and drug my friend Shawn along.  I was looking for vintage cake stands of any form, pewter, depression glass, vaseline glass, porcelain...just poking around to see what I could see.

I was just about done making my way thru Antiques & Architecturals on Riverfront (formerly Industrial, and sorry, couldn't find a website for them), and I spotted this silver server:

I noticed it had a monogrammed "S", perfect for my kitchen, and it seemed to only need a bit of shining up.  Flipped it over to see if it was indeed all silver, looking for a silver stamp, as I hadn't found a price tag on it, and I wanted to know where I could begin bargaining.  That's when I saw this:

My mouth fell open...COULD it be a piece of the Dallas Statler Hilton history???  I mean, it WAS in a Dallas antiques shop, and it does carry one of the Hilton stamps, and when the establishment closed, they did auction off the dishware here.  I've been doing my research online and on eBay, and it seems there are MANY different stamps used to signify the silver service across the whole Statler Hilton line.  So now I'm bugging all my resources to find someone who would know.


Oh, and I got my confirmation on the silver:
So, off I went to the front cashwrap, fingers crossed, putting on my innocent "I just like this here spoon" face, and asked the gentleman: "There doesn't seem to be a price, do you know how much?"  He went off to another small room, which appeared to be a managers office of some sort, and discussssthed.  During this 60 seconds I'm saying to myself, "Okay, what's your limit?  $20/$25, after all, it IS silver, and they're totally going to flip it over and see the Statler stamp..."

He comes back, "Seven dollars," and I holler, "SOLD!"  Then I begin to tell him about the Statler Hilton here in Dallas, it's legacy, and what's currently going on w/ the status of the building now, and the hopes for it to be rehabilitated and used so Dallas won't lose it's first every mid-century modern building - let alone hotel.

His face falls, and he says something like, "Wow, maybe I shoulda' charged you more (light chuckle)."  And I think, "SUCKER!" as I politely put my ladel in my bag, smile, and say, "Have a nice day!" upon exciting the great store.

SO, all-in-all, if it turns out it's not actually from the Statler Hilton here in Dallas, I won't be too bummed...because it's still a nice piece of silver from a Statler Hilton somewhere, and it's monogrammed w/ my last initial.  And besides, until I find out the truth, I'll just lie and tell everyone it is from the Dallas Statler Hilton!  ha

For great pics/history on this building, visit my buddy Justin Terveen's photography here.  Also read more about the history of the Statler Hilton Dallas here on Preservation Dallas' website.

Duck...duck...goose!

No, really, it was duck. & it was delicious! Ben & Av tackled a duck last night..we were all curious 2 try & cook it 4 the 1st time. Well, Ben cooked, I was in charge of the gravy. In fact, I went redneck w/ it & tucked my duck into some bread & dipped it in the gravy.

SIN...I know...& so were the cracklins we made by putting the skin into a 500 degree oven 4 a few moments untill it sizzled...gawd, is there anything better than duck fat?

Wolfgang Puck's Five Sixty

This past Thurs I attended a marketing/pr reception, & lucky for me, drinks & apps took place atop Reunion Tower in WP's Five Sixty.

I had their pear martini, which was tasty, but very strong. They passed mini kobe beef sliders w/ micro greens & house made pickles, steamed dumplings in Chinese soup spoons, & 2 kinds of sushi, spicy tuna & tempura dragon rolls.

Everything tasted wonderful, the kobe beef sliders were incredibly juicy & flavorful...prob my fave. They boast a great M-F happy hour, w/ select drinks & apps for $5.60/ea. (Get it, 560?) :o)

Oh, I will be back & will be bringing friends.

Nectar of the Gods!

Sweet Jesus (Mary, and Joseph, so I'm not speaking in vain), there is a God!  To all of my bronchially challenged friends, those who get stricken with bronchitis, uppper respiratory infections, or laryngitis every frickin' year, I give you, Tussionex Suspension.

You know how it is, you spend a couple of days hackin' up some pretty nasty stuff, (I swear I saw my parasitic twin once), and then you're left with this dry, hacky cough that seems to last f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  And the worst part is those "attack coughs", when you're either trying to sleep, or engaging in casual conversation, and then WHAM!  All of a sudden you become an incubus of bubonic plague, offending everyone around you, sending them running for the hills.  But I have to say that not being able to sleep thru the night, b/c of the 'tickle' in the back of your throat that sends you thru constant coughing spirals, is the worst! 

Enter this wonderful elixir.  If you can beg, borrow, and plead w/ your doctor to write a script for this, you will suffer no more.  And why is it so hard to come by?  Well, first of all, it's a narcotic.  It contains codeine, or hydrocodone.  You have to sign your life away to the fine folks at Walgreens, in order to walk away from the counter with it.  They scan your driver's license as a record of the pass-off, so, you know, Big Brother up in Washington will prob have tabs on ya'.  (So much for running for a political office!)

Second, your Dr. won't put you on this medicine unless he's sure your bronchial infection is over, b/c this will keep you from coughing, so you can't have anymore cruddy green stuff left in there that needs to be coughed up.  You will most likely have to have been on a round of some kind of antibiotics before they'll go to this next step - I myself was working my way thru a Z-Pack, and therefore blessed with the 'good stuff'.

This is a gross topic, I know, but hey - we've ALL been thru something similiar at least once.  So, lets bond, and share, and heal, shall we?

I think I've got this pizza thing down.

So, I wanted to use up the marinara & basil I had from last week when I jumped into this pizza making mode, and I had one more dough ball from Jimmy's in the freezer calling my name.  This time I made a big pizza, so I could fold the pieces in half, New York style.  :)

I have to say, this pizza is relatively healthy, considering it's got turkey pepperoni on it.  I'll have to see how bad the fresh mozz is, but it's coniderably less quanitity than a normal pizza as it doesn't cover it entirely even when melted, and isn't oozing off each slice.  This pizza is not oily at all.  I brush the outer crust w/ a little EVOO before putting it in the oven, but that's it.

Wait, lemme' see that again...

I am obsessed.  :)

A must-have book.

In Season: Cooking with Vegetables and Fruits by Sarah Raven

I had this book on my Amazon wishlist, and was so excited to get it this Christmas.  To be completely honest, I think I came by it from an Amazon suggestion, based on other books I'd gotten.  The cover struck me right away, and the fact that my friends Ben and David had just planted a garden last summer, and I'd been making trips to Akin Farm Organics, propelled me to add it to my wishlist. 

I'm glad I did...it is the most beautiful book!  It is THICK, like at least one inch, if not 1.5, and comes with 2 ribbon bookmarks sewn in - two!  That should give you an idea of how thick it is.  The contents page of the book lists the months of the year, and what fruits and veggies grow in those months.  So you can flip to any chapter month, and there are loads of recipes for the things you just brought back from the Farmers Market, or the farm!  And the photos, the photos are gorgeous!  This "cookbook" is worthy of coffee table prowess, I tell you.  Add it to your repertoire!  :)

Homemade margherita pizza last night

A few weeks ago I was stocking up during one of my Jimmy's trips, and wanted to try out their pizza dough.  They make it fresh every day, and store these lovely bundles in their freezer case.  One dough ball is enough to make a 18"-20" pizza, or like me, I make 2 smaller 10" pizzas in my Breville Smart Oven.

So I thawed a dough ball out yesterday while I went grocery shopping, and came home and made an amazing margherita pizza w/ fresh mozz, basil, and marinara sauce I made from reducing a large can of Cento crushed tomatoes (add a lil' salt, sugar, and EVOO, and let reduce for about 30 mins).

I have to say, I was pretty impressed w/ the results, and also made another version w/ turkey pepperoni - yum!  :)